Cheap Cig Buyers Beware (hysterical, threatening bleating from enraged tax-collector)

NY Post ^ | July 10, 2002 | Martha E. StarkRavingMad

[dead]

The Post's handy chart on where to buy cheap cigarettes was an invitation to break the law, but buyers beware ("Mike's in a rush for cig-tax hike," June 26).

The Department of Finance, which administers the cigarette tax, is serious about nailing tax cheats. And we're good at it, too - just ask the smugglers and tax-stamp counterfeiters we nabbed back in April, the result of two sting operations we coordinated with law-enforcement officials from the Carolinas all the way to New York.

[Dan from Michigan]

I think many Michiganders will be going to Mt Pleasent and Indiana with Engler's tax increase.......(At least my Senator said no deals)

[RicocheT]

Michael R. Bloomberg ran as a "Republican", but taxes like a Democrat and hires Klintoon reruns. Good luck NYC-the city will be wrecked by it's leaders rather than terrorists.

[dead]

And don't carry around too much cash without a pretty damn good reason and the proper documentation.

Without your papers, we will assume the cash is from tobacco smuggling profits, and said cash instantly becomes the property of the state.

Object, and be shot.

[sawsalimb]

Quick!!! I must hasten off to the nearest reeducation camp to have myself cured of my evil addictions and my dislike of paying taxes.

[rstevens]

Yeah. Thats the ticket. We could call them the "VETERANS" like in Zimbawea{sp).

[Just another Joe]

Quick!!! I must hasten off to the nearest reeducation camp to have myself cured of my evil addictions and my dislike of paying taxes.

That would be at my house. And it will only cost you your lifes savings to be reeducated. (You don't think the GOVERNMENT is going to pay for it, do you?)

[billhilly]

I don't understand why they must go through all these games and motions to take other people's money. They should be honest and simply hire a bunch of scary looking characters, arm them with clubs and machetes and have them go door to door, simply taking things from people and keep doing that until the gov't gets whatever it is it needs.

Have they stopped doing that where you live?

[scouse]

You can almost smell the policy-wonk rage coming off this letter.

True; but this woman is more than just a policy wonk, she is nothing more than a covert racist. Her rant is a rather subtle attack on our Native American cousins. What next? NY state troopers attacking the reservations and burning the wickiups. There should be room for racists in government.

[Just another Joe]

We could call them the "VETERANS" like in Zimbawea{sp).

Only until the REAL veterans get involved. Then we could call them "MAIMED".

[Temple Owl]

You guys really know how to pick women! You have Martha and Hillary. Shame on you. But there is a redeeming factor-- you are not Massachusetts.

[zoyd]

For a great summation of the NY taxation mess, try:
http://reason.com/sullum/070502.shtml

An excerpt:

"Bloomberg thus announced the purity of his own motives even as he took his cut from a business the anti-smoking movement depicts as inherently evil, profiting from the deadly folly of its customers. When a New Yorker buys a pack of Marlboros, the city will make four or five times as much as Philip Morris does. But that's OK, because the mayor's heart is in the right place."

[wheezer]

Good luck NYC-the city will be wrecked by it's leaders rather than terrorists.

I've been out of the city since Jan of this year, but I make trips back to the city about every three weeks. Signs of a slow slip back to the pre-Rudy days increase with every visit.

I appreciate the tough money problems the city's facing, but Bloomie's making some unnecessary bad moves.

[Chemist_Geek]

I think many Michiganders will be going to Mt Pleasent and Indiana with Engler's tax increase.......(At least my Senator said no deals)

I recommend Indiana. They're CPL friendly.

[Freedom4US]

What a bunch of morons. The low level nazis are always the worst. Taxes were already paid at the point of purchase, nice try though. When taxes are raised too high, then the black market takes over. Really tugs at your heart strings that they are going to get LESS revenue because of their confiscatory tax.

[KarlInOhio]

I thought the tax was about discouraging smoking, since it's dangerous and all. Turns out it's all about feeding the machine. Who knew!

In the 19th century, Napoleon III commented about tobacco, "This vice brings in one hundred million francs in taxes every year. I will certainly forbid it at once -- as soon as you can name a virtue that brings in as much revenue."

[APBaer]

"New Yorkers lost an estimated $40 million in uncollected tax revenue"

I don't smoke, but now I feel guilty.
Perhaps, I should pay cigarette taxes, *as though* I did smoke?
She can blow smoke out her butt(s)

[Still Using Air]

No kidding, I was wondering if I was the only person who can see the similarities of the Tea Tax and Tobacco Tax.
And you think a bunch of TEA drinkers can get riled, wait until you get a nation of jonesing tobacco users riled, myself included.

[toupsie]

Frankly, she can go have marital relations with herself. If threatening the residents of NYC is her idea of good governance, she needs to get out of office. Time for a little backlash.

[SauronOfMordor]

Michael R. Bloomberg ran as a "Republican", but taxes like a Democrat and hires Klintoon reruns.

There is no Republican Party in NYC. Bloomberg IS a Democrat. To a lesser extent, so is the anti-gun Rudy Giuliani. In NYC, moderate Democrats run as Republicans, because the Dem Party is completely under the control of the extreme Left

[SAJ]

Bravo! That passage came immediately to mind here, too.